


The nice, well-mannered girl

by TheDarkKillerLady



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF samurai people, But it's her fault, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Haruno-clan are samurai, I need to stop spoiling, Minato is alive, No Uchiha Massacre, Politics, Sakura can use a sword, Sakura is lying, Samurai Haruno Sakura, Team 7 underestimate her, Tsunade can use a sword, no beta we die like (wo)man, strong woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27673583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkKillerLady/pseuds/TheDarkKillerLady
Summary: Minato is alive. That means he killed Obito, killed Orochimaru, and made sure the Uchiha Massacre never happened. Akatsuki doesn't exist. Both Naruto and Sasuke have better lives than they did in another universe.While it's a better universe for them, Sakura is an orphan and lives with her grandmother. Her goal is to resurrect her clan to its glory. But she also wants to give the world the age of Samurai back.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Original Character(s), Haruno Sakura & Original Female Character(s), Haruno Sakura & Original Male Character(s), Haruno Sakura & Shizune, Haruno Sakura & Shizune & Tsunade, Haruno Sakura & Tsunade
Comments: 9
Kudos: 182





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language. So if there's any bad grammar, please tell me, and I'll fix it.

Many people in the civilian district knew who Haruno Sakura was. She was the well-mannered little girl who always helped the elders and smiled a lot. The adults were amazed at how calm natured she was, and Sakura never seemed to be anything but happy. They wondered how an orphaned girl could be like that with only a grandmother as a guardian. Parents always asked why their child couldn't be like her, and the children were either jealous or wanted to be her friend. While Sakura had many friends, no one was close enough to see who she was. 

"213, 214, 215…" she panted as she did push-ups. 

Haruhi-baasan stood a few meters away from her and looked at Sakura with steel in the eyes. The frail grandmother was gone. Instead, the matriarch of the Haruno-clan stood right in front of her. Sakura loved baasan, while she always was hard on her while no one saw, that was because she didn't want her to end up dead in the future. Haruno Haruhi had never tried to sugar the truth for her. She was always telling Sakura how the real world was, even though she was just eight.

"248, 249, 250." 

She stood up, and her arms were shaky, and she felt exhausted. Sakura felt baasan's eyes examine her. The room was quiet for a minute before the older woman opened her mouth.

"You are ready for sword training."

While Sakura was tired, she felt for once thrilled. 

_ "When you are strong enough, find me, and I'll train you." _

She felt like she was closer to her goal.

Sakura finds out that Uzumaki Naruto, the Hokage's son, has a crush on her. Many people would take advantage of that, but not her. If she were too close to the Hokage's son, then other ninja's would take a closer look at her and find out the truth. They would then know that the civilian merchant Haruno-clan was a mask of what they are. But that was not the only reason. She knew what was inside of the boy. There was a monster inside him, trying to break free from the prison. While she knew that Naruto was not the monster and that the beast had killed his mother, she didn't feel comfortable around him. 

During the same day, Naruto came and confessed to her with a nervous smile. She had not expected him to admit it this fast, but she was not surprised at the same time. Naruto was a quite daring boy. Sakura gave him a sad smile. Her baasan had taught her how to control her feelings at a young age. She knew how to smile that didn't look fake; she knew how to look sympathetic; she knew how to look sad when it was the right time. The only time she didn't fake her feelings was with baasan. One day, she would leave this village and finally become her true self.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I-I don't have those feelings for you", she said, with a regretful look in the face. "Can we still be friends?"

Naruto gave her a forced smile. He was a bit upset with the rejection but tried to look like it didn't bother him. "Yes, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura didn't train for a week.

When Sakura didn't train and read, she learned about politics. Haruhi-baasan always said that a person was useless with just strong muscles; they also needed to have an intelligent head. Usually, politics went hand in hand with history. How after the Kyuubi attack, people had suspected the Uchiha-clan for starting it. The Yondaime had funded the person who did it, Uchiha Madara, and then killed him. Not long after that, he and Sandaime found Orochimaru's lab with experiments on children. They had killed him too. Sakura also learned the relationship with the other villages. Kirigakure was right now in a civil war, Iwa and Kumogakure had a strained relationship with Konoha. The first because of Yondaime and the latter because they tried to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata. Suna was Konoha's only ally from the big villages. In the beginning, Suna hadn't been happy, but for a strange reason, the relationship had become better. Sakura also learned what the import and export were for not only Konoha but also the other countries. Kumo and Konoha were the wealthiest countries, while Kuso and Kirigakure were the poorest. 

This information was useful. One day, she wanted to revive her clan to its glory. Before the Warring States era, her line had been the strongest samurai clan in the whole world. The reason had been because the family had a strong kekkei Genkai. After a battle with three shinobi clans, only a few people survived. While they decided to become civilians, they never left the samurai way and the sword. It was better to look weak in the eyes of the strongest. They did not look like a threat to them, so they would leave them alone. While Sakura could understand the reason, she didn't like it. It was a coward's way of living and not an excellent way to enjoy life. She knew how it was to live that way, and she didn't want her clan to suffer from that anymore. Sakura wanted her line to be free and not be afraid that any outsiders knew they were samurai. She wanted her line to be seen as the strongest samurai clan again. To make people not forget the samurai. To make people know that the samurai are at least as powerful as the shinobi. That was her dream. And Sakura wanted her dream to become a reality.

"Forehead, do you have a crush on Sasuke-kun?" Ino-chan asked, giving her a sharp look. 

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. A nice, well-mannered girl did not move her eyes at her friend. While Sakura still finds it hard to believe that the heiress, of a strong shinobi clan as the Yamanaka, acted like a fangirl, she even tolerated Ino more than the other girls.

Instead, Sakura gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course not. Why would I, the fantastic Haruno Sakura, fawn over something that a pig likes?" she teased. 

"Wow, the good girl Sakura just called me a pig. The world is about to go under,", Ino laughed. 

They both laughed together. Sakura felt a bit sad that this friendship would soon be over.

Sakura trained on her new katas with the wooden sword. After four years of training, she didn't become as tired as she did in the beginning. She could now swing with her sword for hours before she became exhausted. Haruhi-baasan had also taught her how to be fast with her feet when they sparred together. Her reflexes were a bit slow, and that was what she needed more training. But what Sakura thought she needed was more experience. She would never be one of the best if she didn't spar with more people than baasan. But she knew that she didn’t need to wait anymore.

“Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke.”

"WOHO! ME, SAKURA-CHAN, AND SASUKE ARE GOING TO BE THE BEST TEAM EVER!"

Sakura gave them both a smile. "I'm glad that we are on the same team."

She wasn't surprised that Naruto blushed. He still had a crush on her. Sasuke gave her a nod, but she could see he tried to hide a smile. He was probably glad that he wasn't on the same team with one of his fangirls. While Iruka-sensei continued with the list, she became lost in thoughts. Why would the Hokage let a civilian girl with no talent have the backs of his son and the Uchiha clan head's son? She looked at both Sasuke and Naruto quietly bickering with each other. They both had strong personalities, and they were both powerhouses. Having someone as calm as her, she would be in the middle trying to make sure they were quiet and didn't do anything stupid. Yondaime probably knew Naruto had a crush on her and wanted to use her as motivation to be a better ninja. Sakura knew that clan shinobi did look down on civilians and never thought they would become as strong as them. They were just cannon fodder. She had acted like a nice and well-mannered girl because of that. But that didn't mean she was okay with being used. Sadly, Sakura didn't have a choice but to act that way. 

Sakura didn't even try to discourage Naruto from putting the eraser in the door for two hours of waiting. Their sensei finally came; she felt stupid for not thinking Hatake Kakashi would become their sensei. Of course, the Hokage would only let his student teach his son. Surprisingly, he let the eraser land on his head. Both Sasuke and Naruto started to laugh at his face. 

"And which one of you did this?" he asked slowly.

"Naruto," Sasuke snitched.

"Well, we didn't do anything, so we're also guilty," she pointed out. It was no secret that Hatake liked teamwork, so it was best if she tried to get on his right side.

"Ha, Sasuke! This is also your fault!"

"Dobe, that means it's also Sakura's fault," he retorted and rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Kaka-nii, don't let Sakura-chan be in trouble! This is my fault!"

"Guys, guys." She tried to calm them down. "It's  _ our  _ fault. It's your fault for doing the prank, yes, but it's also mine and Sasuke's for not doing anything to stop it. So why don't we apologize to shinobi-san, doesn't that sound more mature?"

Both of them nodded. "Sorry, Kakashi."

"We apologize for the prank."

Hatake was quiet for a moment before he eye-smiled. If Sakura hadn't seen his smile through the mask, she would have thought it was fake. 

"You pass."

"HUH?"

Sakura was disappointed over how little Kakashi taught them. It was more about making the teamwork better than teaching them any jutsus. And after those lessons, they did D-rank, and then the day was over. That didn't stop Sakura from reading scrolls about earth jutsus and genjutsu. While samurai didn't use chakra in jutsus, Sakura thought it would be useful if she didn't just know how to use a sword. She learned quite early that she had perfect chakra control and had learned how to tree and water walk fast. Her taijutsu was probably better than Sasuke's, and that was why she didn't train on it as much. During their  _ training _ , she usually just looked pretty and encouraged the boys. Kakashi didn't push her to do anything, he probably just expected her there to be their cheerleader, and if she were in trouble, they would save her. Sakura was glad that her time in Konoha would soon be over. She would leave it and never come back.

They got a C-ranked mission to Nami no Kuni. If Haruhi-baasan hadn't told her about Gato, who had his control over Waves, she wouldn't have been worried. Tazuna would make a bridge between Hi and Nami no Kuni. That would restore economic stability, but Gato wouldn't like that. He was rich, so he could probably afford a lot of high ranked missing ninja or rounins. Of course, this wasn't something she told the Hokage or Kakashi. It would look weird if the nice and well mannered civilian girl knew more about how the other countries worked than the Hokage. It would also be more challenging for her later to stop being a shinobi if she now showed intelligence. 

The demon brothers and Zabuza happened. Sakura couldn't believe that she stood and protected Tazuna while she let them rest doing the fighting. If one of them died, she didn't think she could ever look herself in the face. She let a secret endanger their lives. Being a coward was not her bushidõ. No, this was a coward's way of living.

Zabuza came back, now with the hunter nin at his side. Sakura wasn't going to stand there this time. While she knew no one could see her real power, she could protect them while they did the fighting. She threw kunai's at the senbon so they wouldn't make their way to Naruto and Sasuke. That wasn't enough. If she only had the Kekkei Genkai. Sakura stared as the senbon would slowly take their lives. When a wave of senbon was about to land on Naruto, something stopped. Her eyes were on the senbon, who was a few inches from Sasuke. She was so shocked she lost control, and they fell on the ground. Everyone stared surprised at the senbon. Sakura took advantage of that and tried to pull them out of the ice mirrors before the hunter nin noticed. Unfortunately, he noticed and threw more senbons, now at her way. She felt the poison making to her system. More and more came. The last she saw was some orange energy before she only saw darkness.

"I awakened metal bending," she told Haruhi-baasan directly after the mission. 

Her grandmother laughed. "I'm not surprised. I hoped you would do that soon."

"Why didn't you tell me I had metal bending?"

"That's because it would be harder for you to have it. The only way to have metal bending is to protect someone with power. Who was it? The Kyuubi boy or the Uchiha?"

"Both, I guess," she answered vaguely. "I think I'm going to quit as a shinobi. This mission was a bit too much for a civilian girl who almost died. They would understand and not think it's suspicious."

Baasan nodded. "It would be best if we moved back to Tetsu no Kuni soon. It will be hard to master metal bending here."

Sakura smiled. She would soon be home.

Kakashi understood why she wanted to quit and didn't try to change her mind. It was Sasuke and Naruto who tried to make it as hard as possible for her to leave. 

"YOU CAN'T LET SAKURA-CHAN STOP BEING A NINJA!" Naruto screamed at Yondaime. She tried not to think that his tired face was funny.

"Naruto. I don’t think I’m supposed to be a shinobi…"

_ No, she was going to be a samurai. _

_ " _ I can't let you guys protect me all the time. It would not be fair to any of you. It's better for everyone if you had a teammate that could protect you too."

"But you did protect us, Sakura," Sasuke argued, and she gave him a sad smile, glad that they seemed to forget about the senbo incident.

"No. I  _ tried  _ to protect you. I failed and got knocked out", Sakura said, and it seemed that they didn't have more arguments. Naruto tried to use another technique.

"Please, Sakura-chan. How are we going to meet with each other then?"

She gave him a reassuring smile. "It's not that hard. We can sometimes go and eat ramen or just hang out during your free time. We might not see each other that much anymore, but we can still be friends."

Naruto gave her a sad smile; she had defeated both him and Sasuke. Yondaime took her paper and hitai-ate. She could now start her journey as a samurai.

The chũnin exam happened, and Team 7 got a new member. His name was Sai, and he was vulgar, though it seemed like he didn't mean it. She hadn't seen any of them since the day after the three first stages of the exam. They trained for the final step, so they would probably not meet for a long time. That was good. She could then work a bit more on metal bending. Sakura usually would take things that had metal in them and try to bend them in any shape and manipulate them so they would go everywhere her mind wanted them to go. It was hard initially, but baasan told her that the more she used it, the easier it was. Sakura didn't have any access to the shinobi district in the library anymore. That had been one of the big reasons why she wanted to be a shinobi. Being a genin and academy student had given her the privilege. Sakura was glad that she at least remembered more than half of the library scrolls she had access to in her head. Having a good memory was one of her good traits. 

After the chũnin exam, every member of Team 7 became a chũnin. Not long after that, Naruto left the village together with Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, and Sasuke trained together with his cousin, Shisui. She didn’t know what happened to Sai or Kakashi, but they disappeared. Sakura thought this was an excellent chance to move to Tetsu no Kuni. Two months since Team 7 took their roads, she and grandmother made their moves. Sakura said goodbye to Ino and Sasuke. She was surprised over how easy they took it. Probably because of how little she had spent time with them since the chũnin exam. Sakura gave Konoha a last look. 

_ This will be the last time I see it _ ; she thought before she turned her back. She never looked back once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I haven't made a fanfiction in a long time.  
> This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it became longer. I'm still unsure if there will be two or three chapters, but I'm having it now on two.  
> I hoped you like it. I will probably update during this week because otherwise, I'll never update again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura is finally going to meet the people in her clan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language. So if there's any bad grammar, please tell me, and I'll fix it.

It felt like she breathed for the first time in her life—no more pretending. No more smiling. She didn't need to keep this facade anymore. She didn't need to keep this perfect girl mask anymore, and it felt like she was finally home. And the weak civilian girl was gone; instead, a new brave face had taken over. Haruno Sakura would eventually become a Samurai.

Her aunt, Shobu, was the clan head of the Haruno clan. When her father hadn't wanted the position and moved to Konoha with her mother, Shobu had taken control of the clan. She was a relatively tall woman with dark pink hair and hard grey eyes. If Sakura weren't good at reading people, she would've missed the warmth hiding in there. 

"I've heard from mother that you've awakened the metal bending." Was the first thing she said before she took a sip of the tea. "You'll need training if you're going to be the heiress."

Sakura noticed the  _ if _ . Shobu seemed to know what she thought of and started to smirk. 

"Yes.  _ If _ you're going to be the heiress. You have not been raised here, and you barely know who any are from the clan. You have not had any proper training, and while you learned from Okaasan a lot about politics, trade and diplomacy, we have not seen how you would do it in a real situation. So even if you are my niece, being born in the right family does not mean you have a guarantee. Prove to me you are capable of leading the clan and the position is yours."

Sakura knew precisely who she would ask for training. She had waited for years to be taught by her. While she was not a samurai, she still knew how to fight with a sword. It was easy to find the blonde-haired woman among the pink-haired people. 

"And who are you?" Senju Tsunade asked.

"Sakura. Please teach me everything you know!" She bowed to the older woman.

While she didn't see it, Sakura was quite sure Tsunade smirked.

"I hope you are strong enough for my training."

"DODGE!"

Sakura moved aside before the sword went through her stomach. While she knew that the training would be hard, Sakura did definitely not expect Tsunade to try to kill her. Her training was brutal. If she didn't dodge anything that her shishõ threw, punched, or stabbed, Sakura would be dead in minutes. Fortunately, shishõ or Shizune, Tsunade's other student, healed her before continuing with the training. The training made Sakura realize that she had a long way to go before she was strong enough to make her dream a reality. She wasn't fast or strong enough. The first lessons, months ago, Sakura had barely dodged any of the punches Tsunade threw. She was now far better, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid everything. And when Sakura didn't train with Tsunade, she read about healing theories, trained her metal bending, and tried to know everyone from the clan. It was a lot, she was exhausted from everything, but if she wanted to change everything, Sakura needed to put everything she had in it. 

After a year since she moved to the Haruno compound, Shobu finally let her be in the business. In the beginning, she mostly watched and learned from her clansmen when they made the people buying their stuff. It was interesting how they could make a person who could risk losing their own business if they bought their things but still did it. Sakura hadn't realized her clan was this good at words and manipulating until now.

"Didn't you say that this village had a problem with the cold and that's why not many people can work?" she asked the older man curiously.

The man nodded. "Yes, but we don't have enough money to buy all this medicine."

Sakura felt an urge to smirk. He had fallen for her trap. "Of course you don't need to buy the medicine. But if you saw how it would affect the village in the long term, I would say you should buy it."

He raised his eyebrows. "How?"

"Well, if almost the whole village is sick, not many could work. And if the people can't work, how will they then get the food? Doesn't this village usually trade food to other villages to get the money?" Mentally she was pushing a knife in him with her words.

"Yes," he said reluctantly.

"Then tell me, Hiroshi-san, what would happen to the village if you can't get food or money? How would this place look like in a few years?" The knife was now twisting inside him.

He looked down on his feet. "Many people would die, and the ones who lived would probably flee or be starved."

Sakura sighed. "I didn't come here to laugh at your situation. I've been here for a few days, and I can tell you that I don't want the people here to starve. It's a nice village," she said with a gentle tone. "While I can understand you don't want to be in debt with us, buying the medicine would land your village in a better state than letting everyone stay sick."

His face told her everything. She won.

"Yo, Saku-chan, that was brutal for your first time," Hikaru shouted. "You were so cold and logical. I thought you almost broke him."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It was better to make him see what would happen if he refused the medicine now, then letting him be the downfall of the village later," she stated and took a sip of her tea. 

"Oh, so you were cold because you didn't want the people to starve. Quite noble of you to play the villain to save everyone," he said casually.

She narrowed her eyes. "Please, come to the point."

His smile told her he would say every wrong thing she did. "Well, we could start on how you weren't really trying to trade, but arguing with him. While it was good that you had arguments he couldn't refuse, you said everything like he didn't have a choice. Remember, cousin, human's love to have choices. If you limit their freedom, expect them to one day bite back."

Sakura knew precisely what he meant. While they would sit quietly and let people walk over them, they would one day try to rise in secret and fight back. They both wanted that to happen to them.

Hikaru was three years older than her, but he was still the closest one to her age here. Sakura didn't like how he hid his feelings in the beginning. Hikaru let people see him as a naive, happy, and a bit stupid person. While in reality, he was sharp, cunning, and intelligent. Sakura had learned from a young age that someone faked their feelings and had become quite good at it. His father was a cousin to her father, which made them closer to family than the clan. After Sakura started to follow them when they did business, they became closer until he finally became her first  _ real _ friend. She didn't need to hide who she was or how she felt about things. But the best thing was that he was the best person to understand her. He had been living in Kumogakure for many years with his father because of the trading. That meant Hikaru also used a mask for years. 

One day she told him her dream. He had then said: 

"I will help you."

It was nice to have someone who understood.

Two years of training had made Sakura stronger, faster, smarter, and happier. Her metal bending came more natural to her than it did before. She was still not good enough to fight it together with her sword. That was still something she needed more training in.

"Sakura, I want you to spar with Shizune today," Tsunade-shishõ announced.

She nodded and glanced at her senpai. Many people would dismiss Shizune as not a threat. She was kind, nervous, and usually tried to not be in any fights if not necessary. In many people's eyes, she was weak. Sakura thought they were foolish. If Shizune gave them a scratch, they would be dead. When the spar started, Sakura moved fast away, so none of the poisoned senbons touched her. Before Shizune retrieved more senbons, she started to attack her with her sword. Senpai was, of course, also a student of Tsunade and dodged her easily. While Shizune dodged attack after attack, Sakura moved the senbons so they would fly to their owner. She was not surprised that Shizune saw that coming and jumped back. Sakura didn't let her have time to collect herself before she attacked again. Senpai had enough time to block the sword blow with her kunai, which was probably poisoned. She kicked her leg hard so her hold would weaken before she made another attack, and this time, the sword went right through her shoulder. 

"Yield," she whimpered.

Sakura's metal bending training had in the beginning mostly gone on how to move the objects from A to B. It had drained her chakra and energy a lot because her brain wasn't used to it. When she did it more and more, it became more manageable, and it stopped draining so much chakra. No one in her clan was a master at it; sadly, most of them couldn't even manipulate metal. It was because their clan had mixed themselves with civilians, so their kekkei genkai had become rarer. They didn't really see why they should spend their time learning it when they would probably never need it. Sakura could definitely see their point, but her dream was to make her clan great again. The metal benders usually learned how to move objects during fights. But during the samurai era, they could make swords bend in some weird curves or take some big object of metal with no problem at all. That had been the reason why their clan had been so feared and why they hid until no one could remember them. The only clan who remembered them was, of course, the Senju. Her clan had many years ago been a part of them. But they divided when their ideals had been too big. They had helped each other during the crisis; however, they usually tried to ignore each other as best as possible. When Konoha had been founded, Senju Hashirama had wanted them to be a part of it, but her clan hadn't liked that it was a  _ shinobi  _ village and had declined his offer. Tsunade had moved here years ago because she'd been tired of war after her lover's death. Living here had made her stop being afraid of blood, and she had learned how to use a sword better than everyone here. She had one day said to her that she wasn't any longer in her empty mind where she drank and gambled all day. It made Sakura happy that her shishõ had found peace within herself. 

"I wish I had metal bending," Hikaru said when Sakura finally had bent the kunai in a circle.

She grinned. It had been a long time since she smiled, and Sakura couldn't remember since she made a real smile. But she was delighted. While her clan didn't want to become masters at it, there were still scrolls on jutsus. Sakura thought she was ready for them.

"This jutsu seems easy. Making all these shurikens to a metal wall shouldn't be hard...right?" Her voice sounded a bit insecure. If she failed, Tsunade would kill her for destroying her set of shurikens. 

Hikaru closed his eyes and smiled. "Making risks in your life is a part of being a teenager."

Sakura ignored him and read the instructions. She was supposed to flat out the shurikens before she took them closer together so they could become a wall. And if she wanted to put them back in their shape again, she would need to do the opposite of what she did before. It sounded easy, but it was easier said than done. It took her many tries before she made the wall, and it took her twice as slow before she could take them back as they were before. Sakura did the same time over and over again. 

"Are you hungry?" Hikaru asked after four hours of training.

She shook her head and continued with her training. Not many minutes had gone before she could smell the scent of food. He had brought food to the training ground, and now he sat there watching her.

"Hmm, aren't you gonna train?"

That smug bastard! Sakura knew precisely what he did. Hikaru wanted her to regret her decision to train instead of eating. She didn't like to be proved wrong, so she continued to make the wall and ignore him. It wasn't easy when he commented on how good the food was and how much it smelled. Her stomach cried for it.

"Oh, it's sooo good! Haruhi-baasans soba is so good! My life is so good! I'm so glad you didn't want the extra soba she made-"

"GIVE IT TO ME!" She snapped the dish of soba from his hands and started to eat. He looked like he was about to laugh. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything~."

"Well, I said shut up and go fuck yourself."

Hikaru laughed. "Oh, sweet cousin, I wondered when you would stop with the nice act."

Shobu had summoned her. Sakura wondered what she wanted to talk about. They usually didn't talk to each other much, mostly because both of them were busy. Sometimes, they would spend an evening together, drinking tea and talking about the business, asking if she liked and felt safe here in the compound. 

"Please, sit," her aunt told her while she poured some tea in her glass. Sakura followed the order but didn't touch the tea. It was probably too hot for her to drink it. "You probably wonder why I summoned you."

"Yes, we have not spoken to each other in a very long time," Sakura agreed and didn't let any of her feelings betray her face. Maybe her aunt had let someone else be the heir or heiress to the clan. If that happened, then it would take much longer for her plan to happen.

Shobu took a sip of her tea. "While we have not spoken to each other much, that doesn't mean I haven't watched your progress. Your diplomacy, sword and metal bending skills were quite low three years ago, but you trained hard to get where you are now."

"Thank you, Shobu-san."

She narrowed her eyes. "You have trained a lot to become the heiress of this clan. But what I would want to know is why you have tried to master our kekkei genkai and why you want to be the leader here."

Sakura knew this question would be asked one day. "Well, we can start from the beginning what gave me the idea of everything. I lived in Konoha with baasan, as you know, and that would mean I needed to hide who I was. I could not do my best in school; people would be too suspicious if a civilian girl were better than the last Uchiha. I could not be close to anyone; what would happen if the parents found out about the swords? I could not act on my feelings, because someday I would tell too much. I always needed to smile, say pretty words and keep my calm every day. That wasn't who I was, and that's still not who I am today."

She paused by taking a sip of her tea before she continued. "It was hard to put a mask on my face all the time. The only thing that made me keep it up was that many others here felt the same way. They needed to keep secrets from a young age. And I thought that it wasn't okay. Why should we always lie and keep secrets of our abilities? Why should we always put on a mask to the world so they will never find out? It's not a good way to live. And I promised myself that I would try to change that."

"You plan to take back our reputation as a samurai clan?" Shobu asked her coolly.

"Yes. And before you ask, yes, I know why we hid in the first place. But we can't always keep it a secret. It's not good for our health, especially for those who don't even live in this compound. At least we don't need to put on a mask all the time."

If Sakura weren't so determined on her plan, she would have stammered just by looking at her aunt in the eye. They were severe and as hard as steel. "So you say that we should let our secret, that we've kept for centuries, a secret that saved our lives, just so our feelings wouldn't be hurt?"

"It's one of the reasons," Sakura said, her green eyes narrowed. "Shobu- _ sama,  _ what would you do if thieves one day tried to steal our money and food? We would, of course, use our bending and sword skills. But have you ever thought if someone would survive? Our secret would be out in the open. Yes, many would be scared of our powers, but the five villages would want our kekkei genkai. Kumo is a strong village that would love to have us an asset. And how would we survive if the samurai doesn't have our back? If every one knows us as a samurai clan, the shinobi villages will leave us alone."

Shobu opened her mouth, but she wasn't done. "If you agree to this. We should train everyone to use a sword better than the basics and every bender should learn the truth of our power."

"And you assume that the majority of the clan would follow this?"

Sakura nodded. "The ones I've spoken to about this wanted it to happen. Wouldn't it be best if we asked everyone in a meeting to see what they think? If the majority doesn't like it, then we can keep it as it always has been, but if they want our clan to be samurais again, would y0u let it happen?"

"The last time we were a samurai clan, we were too powerful. They killed so many people," her aunt said tonelessly.

Her gaze went down. "I know that as a clan head, it's hard for you to make this choice. While staying like this is safe, someday it won't, and we will lose our dependency or in the worst scenario kill us all. If we become samurai, the world will know who we are; they will know our powers. But if someone makes a move, we will have people behind us. The only thing we need to do is not to show everything we have so they don't become too afraid."

Shobu sighed. "I guess I need to fix a date for this meeting."

Sakura felt like the stone in her stomach had disappeared. A smile started to grow on her lips. "Thank you, Shobu-san!" 

She needed to tell Tsunade, Shizune, and Hikaru about this! Her dream was finally going to happen. After so many years of waiting, it would finally start. Sakura stood up and was about to go, but Shobu stopped her.

"I forgot to tell you that you are the heiress of the clan."

Sakura smiled at her before she vanished.

The clan had agreed on becoming a samurai clan. The only reason why they haven't made it official was that they wanted to do more training and become stronger. Sakura was the only one who mastered their kekkei genkai, and that was why she was the one to teach everyone how to bend the metal and not just manipulate it. She showed them how to make metals into shields or make a piece of metal into a weapon. Sakura liked to teach and see how everyone was progressing. 

"It's actually fun to teach," she said one day to Tsunade.

"I know. Especially when you can torture your student as much as you want", shishõ agreed with a sadistic smile on her lips.

Sakura felt like it was best to not stay close to her teacher for a while.

She was nineteen when her clan was officially a samurai clan. It was a weird but nice feeling to let strangers see how she used her metal bending when she fought. Tsunade and Shizune weren't samurais, but they sometimes came on missions just to heal wounds. While Sakura knew how to heal and could extract poison, she was definitely not on their level. Maybe she should finish her lessons on that. 

The mission she'd been on was to be the bodyguard of the Fire Daimyõs, daughter. Tsunade and Hikaru had followed her, and they were soon close to the border between Hi and Tetsu no Kuni. Suddenly she heard noises close to her. It seemed like Tsunade and Hikaru also noticed and had their hands on their swords. A flash of yellow came out from the leaves, and Sakura moved fast enough, so it didn't touch her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Her eyes widened. While she did expect to meet them someday, she didn't expect it to be this soon. Sakura didn't want to see them again. Just thinking about them made her think about her days in Konoha and being in Team 7. It wasn't any good memories.

"I MISSED YOU!" Naruto tried to hug her, but she took a step back. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sai, Kakashi, and Sasuke watch them. 

Sakura noticed how everyone looked grown up since the last time she met them. Naruto and Sasuke were taller and had lost the baby fat on their cheeks. Kakashi looked the same, and she wondered why Sai had a shirt that didn't cover his stomach.

"Oi, Saku-chan, why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" Hikaru asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. Sakura was pretty sure both of them knew who these people were. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sakura, Hatake Kakashi and Sai. They were my teammates in Konoha before I moved." She gestured to Tsunade and Hikaru. "And this is Tsunade, my shishõ and my cousin Hikaru."

"Maa, I heard your clan became samurais not so long ago," Kakashi said casually.

Sakura didn't let her emotions betray her face. She didn't like his tone. "Yes. I'm quite surprised to see you here. What a coincidence."

"Actually it isn't. We heard Tsunade-hime sometimes comes with your clan on missions. We want her to return to the village," Sai said with one of his fake smiles. Sakura noted that he had become much better at them since the last time she saw him.

Tsunade snorted. "And why would I do that?"

"If you don't, you will be seen as a missing ninja," Sasuke retorted, still keeping his eyes on Sakura. "You never retired as a shinobi of Konoha."

"I guess we can resolve that." Tsunade watched him with cold eyes. "I retire, and then you will leave me alone."

Sai shook his head, still smiling. "It's not that simple. As one of the Sannin, you are an asset to the village, and they will not let you live freely if you're not a benefit to them."

Sakura dropped the nice acting that she'd kept on her face. "I see, so you mean you will force shishõ to be used by  _ your  _ village, even if she doesn't want to."

They stared at her, a bit astonished. She knew what went in their heads. Haruno Sakura, the weak but nice girl who always smiled, looking at them with hatred in her eyes, she would not let them take her teacher and friend away from her especially if they forced her to do it. 

"I think it is simple," Hikaru's voice interrupts her murderous thoughts. "You see, Tsunade is quite important to our clan. Knowing that you will follow her for the rest of her life if she doesn't join you is quite unsettling. So if your village doesn't leave her alone, you will have our clan on your back."

Sasuke snorted. "And what could your sole clan do?"

"A lot of damage. Don't forget that we are still the biggest merchant clan. The food, medicine and things you buy are from deals you have with us. We have a lot of influence with the other merchants, and we could easily stop everything coming to your village," Sakura answered, a smirk playing on her lips. 

Tsunade laughed. "I would feel really important if you still wanted me after those threats."

Kakashi's sole eye told her that he didn't like the situation they were in. "I will speak with the Hokage about this."

Sakura nodded, and her eyes met Naruto's blue. They reminded her of a sad puppy. 

"Sakura-chan, what happened to you that made you change?"

She was quiet for a second before she answered. "Nothing."

For the first time, it was Team 7 that watched Sakura's back. Not her.

**< THE END >**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the nice comments. Those made me really happy! This is probably the first fic I've made that is actually done. If I do write more, they will probably be as short as this one.  
> I really hope you like the end : )


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